Matthew Receives an Honorary Doctorate

It was like a scene out of a movie: A few Saturdays ago, I was washing my hands in the ladies’ room when I overheard a woman exclaim to a gaggle of her friends, “Oh my, that doctor speaker! Usually I hate sitting through graduation ceremonies, but…”

My ears perked up. I held my breath to hear what she would say next. “…that was the best speech I’ve ever heard!”

“Thank you!” I said. “That was my husband!” I could not have been more proud. Matthew had just given the commencement address at Hood Seminary, an African Methodist Episcopal Zion school based in Salisbury, North Carolina. During Hood’s graduation ceremonies, Matthew was also honored with a doctorate degree.

We first met the president of Hood Seminary several years ago through Blessed Earth’s Seminary Stewardship Alliance(SSA), a network of seminaries committed to teaching, preaching, and model biblical stewardship of God’s creation. Since its launch at the Washington National Cathedral four years ago, the SSA has grown to nearly 50 partner schools. Last year, the SSA spun off from Blessed Earth as an independent 501c3.

At Hood Seminary’s commencement, Matthew compared the lessons he learned as an emergency room physician with the challenges that these graduating church leaders will face in the coming years. His simple, Gospel-driven advice applies to all of us:

#1 Keep the faith.
When you’re having a tough week, think of Jesus in the exam room before beginning his ministry: he really was tested by the devil. And the the reaction to his first week of ministry? They took him to the cliff and tried to throw him off! Beginnings and transition are almost always difficult, but Christ helps us persevere.

#2 Be generous.
God loves a cheerful giver. Buy the pizza, leave change in the soda machine, maybe even send a gift to the alma mater (“other mother”) that helped raise you.

#3 Invest in friends.
Friends are like trees: the best time to plant is fifty years ago; the next best time to plant one is today. In an increasingly “connected” world, true friendship is becoming rarer and rarer.

#4 Let the Bible teach you.
So many of us want to instruct God instead of letting Him teach us. God left us a book to believe in: believe in it!

#5 Be thankful.

Keep a gratitude journal and list all the things that make your day better: dental floss, hugs, shoes, literacy, sunshine. These seem like little things, but writing them down helps us appreciate bigger things, like God’s love for us, friendship, the Bible, and the forgiveness of sins.

#6 Remember the Sabbath.

Sabbath-keeping is not a condition of getting into heaven; it just happens to be the condition of heaven when you get in. Taking our hands off the steering wheel one day a week reminds us that God is ultimately in control.

#7 Pray

When we work, we work; when we pray, God works. Pray unceasingly for Thy will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.